The HRD ministry has decided to establish 20 more IIITs in the country in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. In the first phase, five IIITs would be set up in different parts of India, with the one in Tripura, to become North-East India’s first IIIT.

“India is emerging as a global player in the field of information technology and the IT industry is expanding rapidly, manpower requirement is growing exponentially. In order to develop manpower for different areas of the knowledge economy, education and training of information technology, the centre has decided to set up more IIITs in the country,” Union HRD Minister was quoted as saying.

Currently, there are four IIITs in India — Allahabad, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Kanchipuram. These autonomous institutions are providing undergraduate as well as postgraduate technical education.

To establish the IIITs in the northeast (in Tripura), the central government would provide 57.5 percent share of the total cost while the state government would give 35 percent share and the private or industrial houses’ share would be 7.5 percent. Whereas for the IIITs in the other parts of India, excluding the northeast region, the central government’s share would be around 50 percent and the industrial share would be around ten percent, remaining to be contributed by the state government.